Stagnant Waters: Stagnant Waters

After listening to the opening track "Algae" on Stagnant Waters self titled debut, you can forgive me if I thought that I was going to be listening to a black metal album. However, after "Algae" finished I was confused by the weird electronic noises coming out of my on the next song, the oddly named "(-)". You see, it's not every day that I hear a black metal album that has elements of electronica mixed in, and quite frankly when I do hear elements of these genres in black metal, it usually turns out not so good. Usually this occurs because the mixing of genres seems to be forced and not natural, resulting in something that just sounds not quite right.

Thankfully, Stagnant Waters doesn't have this problem as the songs here actually make sense most of the time. Granted, a sudden infusion of industrial elements can be a bit jarring a bit times, but on the whole makes for an interesting experience. For example on "Of Salt and Water" the song slows down a bit and becomes a bit dull before being spiced up by an industrial sequence that ends the song. In other places, such as on the song "Castles" the band sounds like it's starting a techno song before abruptly changing gears into a Ministry meets the Cure mixed with black metal song. Also odd noises pepper the album and several times jazzy type sequences pop up to make things a bit more lively.

Sound strange? Well, it is, but it's also incredibly interesting and far from boring. On paper the album sounds like something I would hate, but after listening to the album I have to say I actually like it quite a bit. The thing about this album is that they've somehow managed to combine black metal with industrial and avante garde weirdness without a resultant mess unlike many who have tried to do the same before. The band makes it sound fresh and innovative instead of dull and contrived.

I look forward to hearing more from Stagnant Waters in the future and hope that they continue to be as innovative as they are on their debut album.

Track Listing
1. Algae
2.(-)
3. Of Salt and Water
4. Castles
5. Concrete
6. Bandaged In Suicide Notes
7. Axolotl
8. From the Breaking Neck to Infinity.

Added: January 30th 2013
Reviewer: Curtis Dewar
Score:
Related Link: Band Facebook Page
Hits: 2233
Language: english

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